1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image taking apparatus having an imaging device or an image sensor, which forms an image of a subject on the imaging device to create image data representative of the subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, there is proposed a technology wherein a movement vector representative of the movement of two or more images is determined in accordance with those two or more images to correct the camera shake (for instance, refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette H06-284327, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette H11-252445, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette 2000-341577, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette 2005-130159, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette 2006-262220, and Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette H04-309078). However, according to the technology disclosed in those Japanese patent documents, it is difficult to correct the subject shake. More in details, in the event that when the subject is divided into the main subject and the background, only the main subject moves, blurring of the main subject cannot be corrected.
By the way, it is reported to have succeeded in the development of the image sensor that is able to generate frames of the number of 300 pieces a minute with 1.2M (1.2 mega pixels) recently. The use of such an image sensor makes it possible to obtain many images, that is, pieces a second by raising the frame rate. Thus, piling up the image of each frame makes it possible to raise the S/N ratio so that high definition of still picture photography can be obtained. Further, it is possible to correct the camera shake by piling up images every frame while modifying position of individual image. Furthermore, the frame interval is shortened, it is possible to correct the subject shake some degree by piling up images every frame while modifying position of individual image.
However, according to the technologies as mentioned above, the camera shake and the subject shake are corrected without being distinguished. Thus, it is difficult to completely correct the subject shake. As disclosed in the document Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette H04-309078, if it is possible to distinguish the subject shake and the camera shake from one another by determining movement vectors on individual areas where an image of two or more images repeatedly generated is divided into plural pieces of image and comparing images on individual areas with one another on a time sequential basis, it is possible to suppress the subject shake by hastening the speed of the shutter when the subject shake seems to be generated. However, the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette H04-309078 relates to the dynamic picture and cannot be applied to the still picture.